Eco Experiment

How little trash can one person make? And a family? A family that is not so co-operative? You can green your kids but can you green your parents? And your Coca-Cola-loving sister? hm! And your neighbours & friends? And the community?
Join us on the Eco Experiment!

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Tuesday, December 5, 2017

In the 21st century, many policies and politics from old times have become outdated.

If we have innovated in communication technologies, transport, healthcare, computers, science, entertainment and other endeavors and technologies... surely, we can innovate in other things too: how to ensure wellbeing and survival of all people, including babies and kids, so that we all (or at least most) can have long, meaningful, fulfilling and productive natural lives until old age - including in Africa, Yemen, the rest of Middle East, and other places?

Food production - if we use resources wisely - while sometimes challenging, can be achieved.

Water can be desalinated, water conservation and wise management of resources have priority.

Minimization and prevention of food waste and other waste and human impact on environment/nature can free up resources for many people.

Weather and war have been the biggest culprits for hunger of people, suffering and premature dying, along with exploitation of people and some really outdated thinking.

And we can have an influence on all these factors.

Win-lose mentality is outdated mentality, in a win-win world everyone can prosper!

The world has enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed. (The greed of some people has surely been a bottomless pit!)

What can we do for a win-win world?

We can learn how to solve problems, conflicts or challenges in win-win ways: where both and/or all sides win - I win, you win, we all win, and the planet wins!

This is new thinking for some people who have never seen this in action, or have never even heard such a thing can exist!

Yet we all have experienced it - or can experience it! - love of a mother or child, kindness of a stranger, free acts of kindness - that enrich both and/or all people, and everyone walks away with warmth in the heart, and a smile.

How can we intentionally nurture such thinking and actions, and help educate people on all levels to plan and set up strategies for win-win ways in politics, economy, bringing up the next generation of world leaders...?

We all need to be leaders - in personal, local, regional, national and international, global efforts, in business, politics, and any other endeavors!

If we don't know how, we must learn. It is important to listen to all sides, recognize emotions, underlying fears and/or desires, find what we all can agree on, summarize and align positions!

We can look for people already doing this, innovate and create better ways!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Are they so out of their imagination they had to go back to ex enemy #1: Russia?

Is this retaliation for Russia having banned GMO (genetically modified food)?
And an attempt to get US fracking oil and gas to EU markets? US, play fair!
And have the war industry profiteer?

US has a history of starting wars and creating 'enemies'...

US, don't think you can help start another war in Europe without anyone noticing!
We are watching. And there are many of us!

So now what, EU would have to declare 'war on Russia' too??
ARE WE SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA??

This is getting boring. Or rather, outrageous.
Like 3rd grade school politics: if you'll be friends with her, I won't be friends with you! Politicians, grow up!

Can't we all be friends?

So the whole thing in Ukraine was cooked up by USA and EU meddling and interfering in overthrow of government. True, the government there was corrupt and bad. Golden toilets? Why? /exasperation!/ So maybe the overthrow was a good thing, at least partly. (Mr Putin, are you listening?)

But did really Nazis take over? Surely, new elections could help?

The situation in Ukraine needs to be resolved with words and politics - diplomacy, not weapons!

Russian-speaking people need to be able to preserve their culture and heritage too! (And some degree of autonomy.)

Ukrainian people need understanding too, some of them have suffered under Russian rule - and suffering can bring hate. But is hate the solution? Breathe.

Isn't it better to focus on creating a FAIR and GOOD country to live in for EVERYONE?

And to the international community: why would US and BRIC countries need to be 'enemies' if they can be good partners in creating worldwide wellbeing, stability and GREEN creativity and cooperation?

Wars are NOT eco-friendly, or 'zero waste'. Some people have seen wars as 'profiteering' in the past, but with limited resources and ever-so-more-dangerous weapons, would we be able to rebuild all this? In wars, health and mental health of people on both sides suffer...

We need to WORK TOGETHER on challenges of the future and today... Like how to create less waste and better resource efficiency, while still maintaining good profits for good businesses, and a more fair world, how to promote sustainable eco-friendly world tourism... We have a LOT of WORK to do, GREEN JOBS are extremely important.
So is FRIENDSHIP. INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Just when I thought I've seen it all, the world continues to suprise me! LOL!

As I was thinking, where are all the GOOD businesses that WANT to be eco-friendly and more sustainable and make less waste, EEB (who is celebrating 40th birthday - Happy Birthday!) published an open letter by Peter Bakker from World Business Council
for Sustainable Development to EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella and a list of businesses FOR Circular Economy!

Of course I was thrilled!!
Then, I went to check who's IN!

And almost fainted. Monsanto, Unilever, Syngenta - who are pro GMO (genetically modified organisms) are on the list of 'business solutions for a sustainable world'!

Then you have Chevron, DuPont, BASF, DuPont, Dow and several other chemical companies.
The notorious Lafarge (notorious in our country, Slovenia! for burning waste in a cement kiln, and other things - though some locals like it for bringing jobs to the area), Veolia who is partly good (sponsoring excellent series on rethinking resources over at the Guardian!) and partly pro incinerators as well (though they seem open to other uses of their 'exotics' and other 'excess' which is a trendy word for waste that Looptworks is using smartly), and sued Egypt for raising minimum wage. Whaat?

With companies like these FOR Circular Economy package, will it be any good? Good question.
As written in the previous post, Zero Waste Europe thinks the package of legislation would need to be improved to ban incinerators as well.

Locally - well, nationally the debate 'zero waste' or 'incinerators' has been raised again. More opportunity for campaigning and raising awareness!
Of course eyes will need to be on the watch on this all - whether the new legislation gets accepted or not!

There are some GOOD companies on the list also, like IKEA or Samsung, Nissan (that I at least don't know anything bad about - yet:)... McKinsey, champions of circular economy...

But the really GOOD THING about this is that BIG businesses at a bigger level are thinking about this, BIG TIME. Even Coca Cola and Pepsi. Nestlé, infamous as it may be?

And when some consumers like my sister (who still loves Coca Cola) can't seem to be bothered with more messages about waste and eco-friendliness beyond the general recycling, it does seem up to the businesses and legislation to provide more eco-friendly solutions. The individual consumer can only do so much.

So, I say YAY for such a big number of businesses for Circular Economy! (Even though I'm still flabbergasted by some of the names!) And I hope that they will, well, go greener overall? ;) (Monsanto, Syngenta and Unilever, that means no GMOs too, do you hear me? ;)

Monday, December 1, 2014

Woo, I'm being read by politicians and businesspeople and like CEOs of eco firms - at least on Twitter and Facebook! :)
While they haven't 'liked' or commented/interacted much, at least they seem interested!

I do wonder if there are healthy sane ethical businesses who are anti secret 'free trade' deals TTIP, CETA and TISA too! (I bet there are, but where to find them?)

And if it does get approved or not, the idea is to get more businesses interested.

As for TTIP and other secret trade deals, this is just a HUGE lesson on what politics really is: decision-making! Teaching us all that we mustn't allow 'them' to do decision-making instead of us!
It may not be easy to stay connected to things on local, national and international level at the same time. You need to have people you can trust at all levels, so you can rely on some of what they say.

And well... you just have to be BRAVE!! haha (I still seem to be a bit clueless about how to go about it all, but it's definitely been interesting!:)

Sunday, November 23, 2014

There has been some development. Apparently the lobbying group BusinessEurope and its friends have been behind TTIP and in opposition to Circular Economy and Clean Air packages and some other legislation for gender equality and for pregnant women.

It makes one wonder WHY: TTIP is said to bring 1.300.000 jobs or so, the Circular Economy 2 million! But surely employers (BusinessEurope seems mainly to be an association of employers' associations) don't just look for new jobs to be created! The Circular Economy could bring BIG savings - previous European Commission has predicted up to EUR 600 billion net savings for EU businesses as well.

EEB has been fighting for the Circular Economy package, they're great, but they will probably need help. From all of us.
The Guardian (UK newspaper) is pro-circular economy too, some good articles and interviews etc. "If we don't reuse things, we are going to start running out of materials." Can material innovation save the world?"
(I just worry that one of their sponsors, Veolia, is for incineration of waste also, though they seem open to people using up waste - or 'excess' creatively.)
In the debate, they touch upon resistance of companies to take up new waste targets as well, as they have sales targets and other things on their plates.
But isn't that just, um, being a bit shortsighted? Where are businesses with longterm VISION?

Some businesses have recognized the importance of Circular Economy, namely plastics recyclers and such.

Good news: there will be WAY less plastic bags in EU in the future - we still need to fight against the evil oxo-degradable bags that collapse into thousands of mini plastic pieces. And we have until December 16th to change the opinion of the new EU Commission about Circular Economy!

What you can do: write to your country's association of employers that is part of BusinessEurope and ask them to appeal to BusinessEurope to change its ways! Specifically, to stop opposing Circular Economy and Clean Air and other good legislation proposals. Or to withdraw its membership out of it. Or to businesses that are members directly.
Blog, tweet, retweet &Facebook &'like' messages about the importance of Circular Economy! We are many! Our voices CAN make a difference!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Ditching the EU-wide plastic bag ban because of ex Tory and a present Tory linked in what seems to be a corruption scandal seemed bad enough! The oxo-degradable bags which collapse into microplastics that never go away seem just evil!
UK, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Poland (and Denmark, Bulgaria and Slovakia?) seem to be blocking the scheme that could reduce plastic bag waste for 80% and bring savings of 740 million Euro A YEAR throughout Europe - money which could be directed into green jobs, to good environmental NGOs, charities, the disabled, for good projects!

Does the new EU Commission under Juncker really want to destroy all good that the previous Commission has put together? CLEAN AIR and CIRCULAR ECONOMY are important!
We need to be LOUD about it! On Twitter, Facebook, everywhere!!
Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, seems optimistic in hist first blog post - and I'm sooo glad that he invites people to European Week for Waste Reduction, for which he accepted a patronage together with his friend and colleague Vytenis Andriukaitis.
EWWR starts on 22 November, more info on their website.

But will he be able to stop the tide of bad decisions which would leave Europe behind in the 'Middle Ages' when it comes to resource efficiency and HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT?
Does Europe really wish to compete with China in deregulation and pollution?? In some cities in China, you can't see the blue sky because of all the smog!
European Commission welcomes the results of the Brisbane G20 summit saying 'The agreed results will help to put the global economy on a sustainable growth path' - are they serious about sustainability, or only focused on the 'growth' part?
Sadly, they also still seem to be stuck on the evil TTIP plan too!!

On a happier note, Anonymous seized up Twitter accounts of Ku Klux Klans! I wish they could seize up all evil wrongdoings in the world! (And track out finances of ISIS and Boko Haram and give them to Oxfam instead!)
It is sad that sometimes this kind of voice is the only one to be heard.

For those of us without mad hacking skills: @Surfrider Europe seems to be loudest in the rally to Ban the Bags, so join them! And EEB fights against air pollution and waste! Let's be LOUD about what we want: clean air and circular economy=less waste!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

What is 'free' trade? And is trade ever really 'free'?
Ideally, it would mean a big market where everyone can happily trade. And this is a wet dream for MANY corporations.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was fast-tracked and promised 200.000 jobs - in fact 680.000 jobs closed and moved to cheaper Mexico. Mexican farmers and the environment also suffered, and local communities or countries were sued for eg banning a hazardous waste facility!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Not so long ago we said goodbye to notorious ACTA, an international treaty about intellectual property rights between EU, US and a bunch of other countries worldwide.

Now, like Voldemort's final sighs the efforts of illustrious Dark forces are back: they wish to sneak in a bunch of other surprise tactics - and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)! They call it TPP - Trans-Pacific Partnership or specifically with EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)!
According to GMO Free USA, corporations could even SUE countries (!) for banning GMO! Labelling would be impossible (?!) and food safety would be threatened!

DREAM ON, MONSANTO!

My Dad thinks they are devil-worshippers. (I wouldn't be surprised!)

Pirate parties worldwide are rebelling, as well as anti-GMO activists!

The problem is, AGAIN negotiations have been made behind closed doors.
And recently, assisstants of Green MEPs (Members of European Parliament) have been arrested along with other peaceful protesters in Brussels, Europe - for protesting against TPP! On what grounds and why? No idea! (I don't understand that much French!)

If this indeed is a sign of how a democratic Europe is planning to work, then we're in deep trouble!

Well, I still believe in EUROPE and in the WORLD, in peaceful and democratic co-operation!
With transparency and what PEOPLE have to say, not just corporations and well-paid lobbyists! (and under-the-table money!)
See a funny video about TTIP or check out the EU Greens' website: ttip2014.eu!

So I'm going to VOTE on May 25th - elections for EU Parliament! And I'm going to help harass inspire MEPs and others to VOTE smartly!

We ALL need to WATCH what they're DOING and give a STRONG opinion about it!

NO to ACTA, NO to TPP!! (And NO to GMOs!!)

Apparently Russia was SMART and BANNED GMOs?? & made importing them a terrorist activity! Way to go, Russia!

(I may disagree with them on some other things, but here they are truly trail-blazers of wonderfulness!!)
Also, global gmo-free-coalition brings together 4,5 million people to fight biotech industry propaganda - find them at gmofreeglobal.org!
And YOU? Are you going to VOTE - &/OR PROTEST about TTP? ;)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I was exasperating over the tiny flimsy plastic (No.6 problematic plastic!) cups coupled with cardboard (to burn better?) which my mum kept buying yogurt in at the local store (and sis kept eating!) I like yogurt too, so at times I ate it, with pangs of guilt - no more!

This yogurt is seriously good, locally grown, hand-delivered once a week in pretty (and healthier!) reusable glass containers stored in a reusable cardboard box with some (reusable) newspaper and cardboard as 'buffer'. The cows eat only homegrown feed, according to the farmer, and they don't spray with iffy toxics. Also, we are helping local farmers!

Dad says, 'Why don't you make it?' - the yogurt, but we couldn't produce such consistent resuls, there is some hassle, and sis didn't eat my results last time we tried it. (She's a gourmet eater.) Also, this yogurt lasts for two weeks while ours didn't last so long. It costs a little bit more than store-bought yogurt, but I think it's worth it! We'll make our 'sour milk' in the summer when good results are more easily obtained.

As for the plastic yogurt cups, mum used them for planting tomatoes and peppers. (She 'lost' the previous ones, then found them only at the end of her planting.) We're growing pink tomatoes and some other exotic ones this year, mum's experimenting.

Ever since I heard that plastic yogurt cups do NOT get recycled locally, but burnt at the incinerator, I had a love-and-hate relationship with yogurt. It's good and more easily digested than milk (if you eat dairy products, which I do again, for calcium - I got cramps from calcium supplements! and my scoliosis worsened when I didn't eat dairy - and okay, stayed behind computer too much). So when I heard about this from a friend, I was very happy!

How about you? Any recent zero-waste news? Did you manage to source something good and yummy? How do you eat yogurt or similar non-dairy products? (Alternative rice or almond milks seem to all come in iffy tetrapaks which I tend to stay away from?)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The lemons are a little smaller than store-bought ones (not sure why).

Organic eco lemons come in a plastic mesh (=probably unrecyclable) where I live, these were straight off a tree though.

An expert on Climate Change said our country will probably become somewhat like Macedonia, so no wonder I'm now dreaming of even fig trees and such (my cousin has one).

The lemon was our neighbours', they wanted to throw it away since it had a 'stroke' or something like that and they thought it would die in the winter. But hey, it's still alive!
First winter with us, it didn't have any fruits, but it survived. Now, it has small lemons. Maybe next year, even bigger? :)

Update: the neighbours are very impressed the tree actually had lemons! (The tiny fruit shriveled up and fell off when they had it!- And first when we had it too)
I googled up lemon-growing online and the key is to ignore them most of the time, only watering when really dry. Apparently the flood and washing of leaves (it has tiny pests on them again) also did it good, and it seems to do better in not-so-hot weather...

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I last posted.
Many things have happened inbetween.

As I checked the stats, I was amazed that so many people still read (or briefly come upon) this blog. People from countries like Russia, India and Indonesia have come upon this blog - I have no idea how! lol

I started this blog as a personal experiment how to make less waste (zero waste would be ideal), my journey went over how a community can make less waste and what can be done nationally and internationally - globally.

A LOT can be done. A LOT also means it can lead to overwhelm soon.
Especially if you're a scanner or 'multipotentialite' interested in many things, like I am.

So how do you go from 'OMG how do I do this?' to being read internationally (even when no longer posting much) and having a national and international impact?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Woo! I'm being researched by a PhD student from Arizona!:) The lovely Tamara Wallace Ramirez @artplaceidentity has asked me (along with some other awesome bloggers like Sooz and Jenn,Grant&Rhyannon@Clean Bin) about what it means to share personal stories with an activist dimension online.

I never really thought of myself as 'Thoreau'! (Though I was vaguely familiar with him! And murmured a few lines from The Lake Isle of Innisfree now and then. Not that this is related.)

I used to hate gardening with a vengeance!
In fact, Mum had a very bad disciplinary practice of asking us to either garden or study/do homework when we were kids (whereupon we ended up reading Victoria Holt hidden secretly in a drawer!)

and found out the only way to be absolutely sure what you eat is to grow it yourself, that GMO soy has even been labelled as 'eco/organic soy' in our country, that 'eco food' was EXPENSIVE *AND* wrapped in plastic/unrecyclable cellophane in stores, and much of it imported from Italy or elsewhere! (In fact, most of the supermarket food seemed to be imported from SOMEWHERE: garlic from China, beans from Argentina... YIKES!!)

The World According to Monsanto - excellent documentary!
and book: (make sure you get the right version of DVD depending on your TV system)

So, I developed a passion for the hoe. (Okay, not exactly.) But I cursed Monsanto with every blow.
And realized it was not so much trouble, and a lovely workout! Hey, it was free!! And I got a kick out of free food too!! :)

I LOVE experimenting and may quickly get bored, so blogging was another way to keep up the MOTIVATION!

But it all started before that.

I was writing my eco SF romance when I heard some bad news on the radio! YIKES! An incinerator was to be built in Granny's town! And they called it 'eco-friendly'?? What to do? The whole point of my book was to not just 'look away', but to take action!
I researched the hell out of it and talked to some people, but it was too far along, I had too little knowledge or support to make a difference then (and some health problems), but no one could stop me to try and make ZERO WASTE personally (or come as close as I could)! Heck if I wanted my trash to become a toxic problem for the health of my friends and relatives in an already chemically polluted area!
They were like textbook examples of health problems from environmental pollution.

So I wanted to make zero waste. But had no idea how. :)

I read books on natural cosmetics, consulted my Grandma on how they did it in the 'old days', rethought the idea of 'cloth pads' (first I thought it exotic but gross & possibly terrifying lol!) and Googled like crazy.
I actually had a hunch how to stop the incinerators, didn't know what to do to reduce waste though!

I felt soo 'imperfect' with my own not-so-eco-practices and didn't know how to inspire others - until I stumbled upon the AWESOME myzerowaste.com!
They weren't perfect either, but they were having FUN exploring new things and BLOGGING about it!! :)

... And they only made one bin of trash in one year! One BAG of trash in next year!

Support from other eco bloggers - 'trashbloggers' like Mrs Green and her family, and Mrs Almost Average and Danda from Italy and Sooz and others has been great INSPIRATION! Connecting to like-minded people was a big factor, at the same time a 'by-product' was to raise awareness about it all to new people too - I actually wanted to start a 'proper' blog (with own domain name etc, haven't quite gotten round to it yet).
This blog was sort of like a 'stepping stone' in the direction to a more 'proper blog' (where I wouldn't be that personal lol).

No one around me was as obsessed about trash as I was (or knew anything about waste reduction) at the time, so I had to find info, 'allies' and support online... in books and from my Granny too, and some other older ladies... (they had great tips and info on living almost-zero-waste before this crazy era of throwaway consumption!!)

I was already committed to a certain set of environmental values - began blogging as a way to keep track of it all, research new things and have info in a handy accessible form (computers can crash too, the internet can sometimes actually be safer to keep track of things...)

I still want to make zero waste (or as close as possible), meanwhile, I've started following economy and politics even (who would have thought??!)
They are all linked with environment and decision-making...
I've found some allies in RL too, though it's all still err... experimenting :)

I was a 'non-political' person before, more into artsy/music/literature/culture stuff, didn't care about politics... (and usually switched the radio to music or TV to comedy, films or videos). I still prefer to read trashy novels to 'serious' economists or political stuff...

This blog started as a personal experiment - if political decisions (ie to build incinerators and promote them as 'eco-friendly') go against what one thinks is right, what can one person do?

Hm, the more I read about Thoreau the more I can relate to him!
He he, he refused to pay TAX too lol, who wants to pay taxes in a country that builds incinerators and such stupid things??
The economy needs to be CHANGED and TRANSFORMED - what we've been doing is not sustainable!)

So now I have another VISION: to build a country where one would WANT to pay taxes!! Wouldn't it be great?

I live 'in the middle of nowhere' so connecting with others is priceless and online world is a window into what others have been doing worldwide - and maybe some inspiration back too!! :)

Who is your audience?
I write to and with the people online, who are trying to make a difference and go more eco-friendly too... (and have been sometimes struggling with it and making silly mistakes, like I do... Or have gone through difficult times like I have...) Or some who haven't really thought about it, but they see my blog and go 'Hey, yeah, it's important to recycle/be more eco-friendly!' etc. (Cute pics help here!:) If I've inspired one person, or a few, to try something new, and see 'eco-friendly' living as an ADVENTURE and not 'something gruesome oi yuck!' I've done a lot! :)

(I only showed this blog to one cousin in RL and she wasn't too happy over what I wrote about her in a previous post lol! The idea is to have a mini-rant-space over sometimes-uncooperative family and community!:) She was happy to have her pics online though (likes to have her photos taken!)

At the moment I feel like I've built this blog like a statue to my Granny... To sort of keep memory of her and what she meant to me alive...

I'd probably stop writing the blog if there weren't any feedback :) The idea was to connect with people, learn from them, and keep on track with the zero waste thing. It's not ROCKET SCIENCE, but it's not so easy sometimes - one needs to unlearn decades of BRAINWASHING/MARKETING sometimes, re-explore basic assumptions, one can get disheartened without positive encouragement, especially if there may be many obstacles or some negative feedback/experiences in RL...

As for BLOG FORM: Hm, my posts are not so short! lol!
I know I get more comments on shorter posts with pics, and/or very enthusiastic ones... It doesn't stop me from posting at other times though...
I like it that I can include links to keep track of research or inspiration more easily...
If something makes me really angry, or happy, or sad... I'll probably blog about it (or post elsewhere, or at least write in a private journal)
It's probably a bit like THERAPY (like Kafka wrote), I'm addicted to writing lol!

What I really LOVE about blogging is connecting to some really AWESOME people out there: it makes me feel HOPEFUL that people from all over the world are being creative and inspiring and doing some pretty awesome (and cute!) things to go more eco-friendly...

What influence that you hope your blog will have on others?
I don't have dellusions that my blog would 'change the world' (by itself) but it's helping me maintain sanity, health... And have some FUN with it all!!

I like to think of myself as someone doing a 'tiny bit' - if everyone does own 'tiny bit', we can do A LOT!!

Oh, and someone from Brazil reads my blog - I don't know anyone from Brazil, lol!! But it makes me THRILLED that maybe they can get some value & INSPIRATION from what I write! :) Arizona is a pretty COOL place too, never been there! So, it's a place for INTERNATIONAL working and co-operation, working together on things that are IMPORTANT - for this planet & all of us!

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About Me

I have been trying to go Zero Waste for almost two years... Experimented with alternatives to shampoo, soaps (we don't need as many as we think we do), have switched to cloth pads (love 'em!) and now buy cheese with a reusable Tupperware-like container.
Where else will the world take me? ;)